women4beverages: Michaela Habbel, CEO of Destillerie & Brennerei Heinrich Habbel

Processing fruit from her own cultivation

Her distillery with restaurant and adjacent fruit farm is located in the Uellendahl district of Sprockhövel, surrounded by forests and agricultural fields. "I work in a business that allows me to work with nature and make products from natural raw materials," says Habbel happily. She collected spruce tips as a child and encouraged her father to use them in production. She and her team have developed a quince liqueur for the Sprockhövel Fall Festival. "The quinces came from our own orchard and we made the quince juice ourselves," says Habbel.

She loves to go out with her two dogs, a pug and a Briard-Kangal mix: "Always with my nose close to what the forest and meadow have to offer seasonally." Habbel finds it fulfilling to produce in harmony with the seasons, to live and work in a cycle with nature.

Love for the product connects

And then there is the conviviality of her industry. "I deal with people in a field that offers enjoyment, pleasure and relaxation," she says. Many customers, especially when it comes to whisky, are connoisseurs and share a great love for the product. That is very unifying. Most of her guests and customers come from the local area.

As Habbel explains, Sprockhövel is considered the "cradle of mining in the Ruhr," as many suppliers to the mining industry settled here. Here, people talk "straight to the point": "People are welcomed openly here, they get straight to the point, I like that," she emphasizes. By the way, I notice right away that Michaela Habbel can keep up. Her authentic, straightforward manner immediately inspires trust. And puts you in a good mood!

Continuing the family legacy

For all her closeness to nature, love of the product, and sociability, Habbel draws the deeper meaning of her work from the family legacy she is carrying on in the fourth generation. "It's not about me, it's about something bigger," she says.

Today, the Heinrich Habbel Distillery is the largest fruit distillery in the region and one of the few to survive. Founded as an agricultural grain distillery with livestock and a restaurant, the business was expanded in the 1970s by her father, Michael Habbel, to include the production of fruit brandies and liqueurs.

The Uralter Whisky, launched in 1977 as Germany's first whisky, is also one of her father's innovations. Meanwhile, cattle breeding has given way to fruit growing. And the pub has become a sophisticated culinary restaurant with a large selection of wines and spirits, which is successfully run by a tenant.

Twelve people work at the distillery: "We are like a family," says Michaela Habbel, "there is open discussion without regard to hierarchy. " The organizational chart is not really visible, she notes. In fact, the sales manager has been with the company longer than she has been alive: "He has just as much passion for the distillery," says Habbel, "we always say that the industry has enchanted us." In general, she is thrilled by the dedication of her team and is often genuinely touched when they show their commitment.

Committed to Whisky

When Michaela Habbel joined the management team, whisky production became even more important. In 2013, the distillery invested in the construction of a new distillery: the Hillock Park Distillery. She developed the helmet shape for the new pot still – based on the Scottish model. Whisky is a project close to her heart: "The most luxurious product of all," says Habbel, "it takes a long time to mature, which is very relaxing."

A wide range of single malts, single casks, triple woods, peated whiskies and ryes, as well as whisky liqueurs will be offered under the Hillock Park label. Habbel herself likes the peated black labels best, such as the Hillock 5 ¾ Peated Single Malt, which was finished for 9 months in Pedro Ximinez casks. Her commitment to whisky extends beyond her own company: in 2018, she was appointed president of the Verband Deutscher Whisky-Distiller (Association of German Whisky Distillers).

Expansion – but manageable

Habbel says she runs her distillery with three people in the inner management circle: the production manager, the marketing manager, and the sales manager.  "We want to expand sales," she says. To that end, the company is also investing in a new, fully automated bottling line: "This will reduce the workload enormously," says Habbel, "although we value a manually controlled still, filling the bottles and applying the labels can be done automatically. It ties up too many people.”

This means that Distillerie & Brennerei Heinrich Habbel is on course for expansion: "Not worldwide, but to a manageable size," emphasizes Michaela Habbel. Do I need to mention that – for all her courage – she is also a very down-to-earth person?